Toras Avigdor Junior
Parshas Vayishlach
Eisav’s Kiss
Yonah walked into the dining room and looked at the pile of mail on the table hoping that maybe this time there would be something for him. There was just a bunch of bills and junk mail in the pile, but one colorful envelope caught Yonah’s eye. It was addressed to “The Lefton Children” – Yonah was one of the Lefton children, so that meant this letter was for him! Excitedly, he ripped open the envelope, pulled out the flashy card inside, and eagerly read:
Yonah put down the card and thought for a minute. “I know!” he said to himself. “I know just the thing!”
Yonah raced out the front door and down the block, davening to Hashem that what he was looking for would still be there. Sure enough, sticking out of the dumpster that he had passed on the way home from school was a big poster with a picture of Mayor McGillicuddy. Yonah grabbed the poster, carefully rolled it up, and ran home. Then he took some magic markers and very carefully and neatly wrote the words “I ♥ My Mayor” on top.
“If I take a picture of this poster hanging over my bed,” Yonah thought, “I’m sure I’ll win!”
As Yonah stood on his bed nailing the poster into the wall, out of the corner of his eye he saw Totty standing in the doorway looking startled.
“Um… Yonah,” Totty said, “May I ask why you are nailing a poster of our goyishe mayor to your wall?”
Quickly, Yonah explained the whole contest to Totty. “Can you imagine, Totty?” said Yonah. “Your own son, The Mayor’s Best Buddy!”
Totty walked over to Yonah’s bed and sat down, motioning for Yonah to do the same.
“Yonah,” Totty began. “I want to explain something to you. Do you know what happened in this week’s Parsha with Yaakov and Eisav?”
“Yeah,” answered Yonah. “Eisav wanted to bite Yaakov, but Hashem made a neis and he kissed him instead.”
“Very good,” smiled Totty. “But do you know that Rav Avigdor Miller says the kiss was a bigger problem than a bite would have been?”
“Why?” asked Yonah. “Isn’t it good when the goyim like us?”
Totty thought for a second before answering us. “Well,” answered Totty, “it’s definitely a chessed from Hashem when the goyim give us the freedom to learn Torah, but we need to be very careful.
“Only in the past several hundred years, when the goyim started being nicer to us, that’s when many Yidden stopped keeping Torah and Mitzvos. Four hundred years ago, EVERY YID WAS FRUM! It’s only because the goyim started acting friendly to us, that many Yidden started trying to be friends with the goyim, and eventually acted like them as well.
“So while we are respectful to the goyishe leaders and we vote for those whose policies are the best for the Torah and its observers, we save our love for the Gedolei Torah and Talmidei Chachomim. That’s whose posters you should be hanging over your bed!”
Yonah thought this over. It made sense. He had a collection of Gedolim pictures in his drawer and those would look much better over his bed than a picture of their goyishe mayor.
“Totty,” said Yonah. “Thank you for explaining this to me. I don’t want to be Eisav’s Best Buddy – I want to be friends with those who keep the Torah instead.” And after a few seconds he added, “but I guess if we lived in Eretz Yisroel it would be okay, since there the politicians are Yidden, so they’re not Eisav?”
Totty looked shocked. “Not Eisav?? Who do you think Eisav was? Eisav was the son of Yitzchok Avinu, the brother of Yaakov! The Gemara says he was like a Yid who didn’t keep Mitzvos. Those Jewish reshaim in Eretz Yisroel are even more like Eisav than goyishe Mayor McGillicuddy! We DEFINITELY don’t want any pictures of them in our house!”
Have A Wonderful Shabbos!